accomplishment

Setting goals is pretty easy. Actually achieving them, not so much. Here are 9 of the tips I’ve implemented to help me achieve my goals.

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Hold yourself accountable by telling others about your goals

Sometimes telling yourself you’re going to do something isn’t enough. It helps to feel that sense of pride that you’re going to accomplish people when you tell your friends and family about it. Maybe you can even start a blog about it. For example if you are wanting to eat a healthier diet this year you could start a blog sharing the recipes and meal plans you are using in order to keep yourself motivated to keep going. When it feels like you are trying to prove yourself it will help push you along.

Break it down into smaller steps

When you set yourself goals they are usually the end all to where you want to get in a certain area. For example I want to be pretty proficient at playing piano by the end of the year. It’s overwhelming to think of how I am going to get there. It obviously isn’t just going to magically come to me over night. (That’d be awesome if it did) In order to make your goals seem more attainable you need to break them down into smaller, more easily reachable, goals. I found a great free printable that helps you break down your goals like this here. A good example of this for my goal would be to have my main goal as learning to become awesome at piano. My small goals to get me there would be to learn a new song in one month’s time, practice reading sheet music 3x a week for 30 minutes, and learn some of the basic chords within 2 months.

Make it a SMART goal

SMART can be broken down into 5 parts. Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Timely. You can improve the wording of your goals by making sure it hits all five of the points. Say your Goal is to get in better shape. That’s a pretty broad statement. How would you determine if you actually reached your goal? Would you congratulate yourself too early just to be done with it? A better way to write it out would be to say you would like to reduce your body fat by 5% by the end of the year. That goal hits all of the 5 parts. You are saying exactly what you wish to achieve, what amount, and when you want it done by. As far as it being attainable and relevant you just have to think to yourself, is this logically possible? Yes, yes it is. Is this relevant to what I want to happen in my life? Abso-friggin-lutely.

Be passionate about it

Your goals should be something that you want for yourself. Don’t make goals that you don’t have a fire in your belly to actually achieve. Does someone else think you don’t read enough? Does it matter what they think? If you don’t like reading then don’t make it a priority in your life to read 2 books a month. You won’t enjoy doing it and it will make goals a horrible chore for you. Find goals that you will crave to work on. Things that you’ll be excited to complete.

Visualize the benefits

What will you get out of completing your goals? Are you saving up money for a trip to the beach? Every time you get a craving to go to McDonald’s (maybe that’s just me, insert your vice if not) visualize the beach you could be laying on if you just save up that $3 a day instead. If visual stimulation is a motivator for you, draw up a board showing what you will get if you achieve your goals. Want a big ol’ booty? Find a motivating photo to remind yourself why leg day seems to never end.

Write it where you’ll see it often

The more you are reminded of it the more likely you will do it. Life can get extremely busy but that isn’t an excuse to not work on what you want for yourself. You should always be able to find a few minutes in your day to work towards improving yourself. Write post-it note reminders around your house or on your desk, write it on a white board in your office, print it out on a paper that’s taped to your mirror. Whatever makes sense as a daily reminder, do it.

Schedule tasks on your calendar

In planning out my goals I noticed the insane amount of apps that there are just for scheduling and calendars. Download one of those and use it. I personally like the Tasks Free app for android. I write out my small easy to reach tasks into the lists, schedule a time and reminder and it’s done. Then when the time comes you get a nice little phone reminder. No more excuses that you forgot. This also really helps you to plan out your day because it is a visual representation of what needs to be done and how much time you can allot for each task.

Review yourself weekly

In saying this I mean review your progress, not your results. If you are trying to lose weight, look back at what efforts you have made for the week instead of constantly checking the scale. When you see that you are putting in the work you will feel accomplished whether you’ve lost the weight yet or not. That sense of accomplishment is a wave that will take you far. If your goal is to read a book every two weeks review the amount of time you put into reading. If you aren’t putting in enough time to accomplish your goal by your deadline then make the necessary adjustments that will get you to where you want to be.

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